What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just vpn/proxy?

From	RayP <rpalix99@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.mobile.android, misc.phone.mobile.iphone, comp.mobile.ipad
Subject	What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just vpn/proxy?
Date	2015-08-06 13:31 +0000
Organization	Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID	<mpvnit$gmb$1@speranza.aioe.org> (permalink)

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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I was asked the following question from a non-technical friend:
> Do you know about this?
> https://freedom.to/hello

Do you know what this "Freedom" app actually does?
Is it a scam?

iPad and iPhone (where the rating is 2 but it has too few ratings):
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/freedom-reduce-distractions/id960372431?
ls=1&mt=8

Android (where the rating is 3 but it has too few ratings):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=to.freedom.android&hl=en

I had never heard of this app, and, I'm instantly wary of the initial web 
page which does three things I don't like right off the bat:
1. It doesn't really tell you what it is, and,
2. It tells you it's free but it asks for $45 
3. It requires a login and a password just to download the software 
(apparently even for just the free crippleware).

Looking about on the web page, I see it doesn't actually work on "all" 
platforms (they lied), but it does seem to have most of the major 
platforms.

Looking further, I see has something to do with using VPN:
http://support.freedom.to/category/71-virtual-private-network-vpn

I gave it a bogus login and I was surprised that it took it without
challenge or obligatory registration email.

Then it asked me what I wanted to block (which was apparently just a 
teaser to get us going):
- facebook
- twitter
- gmail
- youtube
- instagram
- reddit
- everything

So, I selected "everything", and then it said I needed to download the 
app, but, so I went to the next page, which was to "select a plan" of 
"free" or "$24/year" or "48/year".
It says in the "fine print" the following:
-----
Important information about our plans:

    What is a risk-free trial? When you sign up for Freedom Plus or 
Freedom Premium, we do not charge your card until your trial is complete. 
To cancel, simply downgrade your plan - no questions asked!
    Freedom is brand new and during our beta, Freedom Plus is $24/yr and 
Freedom Premium is $45/yr. After August 15, plan prices increase to $39/
yr (Plus) and $79/yr (Premium). Lock in a great discount!
    We are constantly improving Freedom! Features coming soon include: 
Whitelisting, iOS Notification Control, Permanent Blocking, Browser 
Plugins, Calendar Integration and many more.
-----

Anyway, for "free" you get almost nothing as far as I can tell, but I'm 
not sure there's anything you get for money either.

Here is their pricing chart:
(Free)($24)($48) Block the entire internet
(Free)($24)($48) Block distracting sites (free is Limited to 2 sites
(Free)($24)($48) Covers all computers (free is  Limited to 1 computer)
----- ($24)($48) Advanced scheduler    
----- ($24)($48) Create multiple blocklists    
----- ($24)($48) Assign different blocklists to each device    
----- ($24)($48) Blocks email and chat 
----- ($24)($48) Handy pre-built block lists   
----- ($24)($48) Start sessions in-app 
----- ($24)($48) Delayed-start mode    
----- ($24)($48) Locked/unlocked mode  
----- ($24)($48) Premium support
---------- ($48) Cover all your mobile devices with Freedom    
---------- ($48) Control all devices from the Freedom mobile app
---------- ($48) Works on iPhones (iOS 8+)          
---------- ($48) Works on iPads (iOS 8+)          
---------- ($48) Works on iPod Touch (iOS 8+)          
---------- ($48) Android Compatible (4.4+, in beta)

There is really nothing useful in the entire list that you can't do with 
other tools I'm sure, so, we'd have to look to see what the objective is.

But, anyway, I took the bait, and I hit the "Free" button, and wouldn't 
you know it, another nag screen saying:
-----
"experience freedom
For the last step, we'd love for you to experience freedom by running a 
short session.
Choose a session length, and press start to launch into your first 
freedom session."
-----
But, of course, only one button was available (the 10 minutes) and who 
would pick two minutes (you'd barely figure it out before it timed out on 
you even with 10 minutes).

So, I hit the 10minute button and lo and behold, it mentions that it's 
just a "proxy" service (which isn't any big deal, I don't think).

It says in fine print:
-----
"Hi Firefox friend!  If you run into any trouble getting blocks to work 
on Firefox, you might need to make a configuration change.  In Firefox 
Preferences, go to Advanced -> Network -> Settings and choose "Use System 
Proxy Settings."
-----
OK. So maybe it's just a proxy. And probably a VPN. No big deal.
Anyway, playing the game, I press the "add device" button for the iPad 
and it brings me here (notice it requires iOS 8.0 or later).
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/freedom-reduce-distractions/id960372431?
ls=1&mt=8

For the Android device, it brings me here (where the rating is 3):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=to.freedom.android&hl=en

It only has 7 customer ratings, which isn't enough - but they're rated as 
a "two starts", which isn't propitious.

Anyway, it says it's a VPN and says:
----- 
How does Freedom use a VPN?

What is a VPN?

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and is a connection to a secured 
network from outside the network. 

How does Freedom use a VPN?

Freedom uses a VPN to implement its blocks for mobile devices (both iOS 
and android). When you start a Freedom session, the distracting content 
from sites like Facebook or Reddit gets redirected to a VPN instead of 
going to your phone or computer. All other traffic goes directly through 
your regular internet connection.

The VPN is only called during a Freedom session. For this reason, there 
should be no speed impacts (other than the initial VPN handshake) when 
using Freedom.
-----

There is a description about them here:
https://80pct.com/index-about.html
And here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?
privcapId=303106179

But, even after reading all that, I'm still not sure what it is.
Do you know what it is?

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Thread

What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just vpn/proxy? RayP <rpalix99@hotmail.com> - 2015-08-06 13:31 +0000
  Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just vpn/proxy? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-08-06 15:08 +0000
  Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just   vpn/proxy? Jack Ryan <noreply@remailer.cpunk.us> - 2015-08-06 15:23 -0400
    Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just vpn/proxy? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-06 20:09 -0400
      Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just   vpn/proxy? Anonymous <nobody@remailer.paranoici.org> - 2015-08-07 09:11 +0000
        Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just vpn/proxy? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-07 11:46 -0400
  Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just vpn/proxy? chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2015-08-07 09:23 +0100
    Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just vpn/proxy? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-07 11:46 -0400
    Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just  vpn/proxy? Mitch Kaufmann <mitch284@outlook.com> - 2015-08-07 11:53 -0400
      Re: What is this "Freedom" app (to block distractions) - Is it just  vpn/proxy? chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2015-08-07 17:51 +0100

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